Spoilers ahead.
Content warning: mentions of sexual harassment and assault. This review, as well as this comic, is not for children to read.
So let me get this straight:
The story ends with the "heroine", Callie, murdering her mother, whom she (and the reader) literally just met, and is literally the only other female character in the entire book, and this is witnessed and encouraged by four "good" male characters, three of which want to have sex with Callie (yes I'm counting the talking radish ghost in this, as he is extremely possessive, clingy, and acts as a knight to her, arising jealousy in the main male love interest, I-can't-believe-my-biggest-competition-is-a-dead-vegetable-actual-quote Declan), and the fourth is her overprotective father. The mother, who is a tree (yes just go with it), is apparently the main villain all along, even though her introduction comes way too late into the story, and she is barely foreshadowed at all, and she wants to kill everyone and everything to absorb and possess their spirits, or something, and for funzies. Not only does Callie feel no remorse whatsoever upon brutally murdering her mother - stabbing her in the chest, where there is blood, despite her, you know, being a tree, albeit a fantastical one - her mother, whom, reminder, the girl had no idea even existed about five minutes ago, but it is played for laughs. The whole climax of the story is played for laughs. The reader can't take anything seriously, and it is underwhelming, barely a payoff. No emotions, except tee-hee, murder!, and the conclusion to the love story between Callie and Declan. Meanwhile, the other three male characters, including two who have been obnoxiously vying for Callie's affections throughout the book (because she's a "muse", a super special magical snowflake (quite literally as she has white hair), and a device for others to use despite her supposedly being the main character in both this story and in her own right, but this turns out to be not that important), they make stupid and annoying comments on the side.
Callie may not belong to her "crazy", murderous, monstrous tree mother, but she surely belongs to her smart, secretive, "kindly" human father, and her persistent, clingy dude love interests!
The volume teases a sequel (yeah, sorry, but I don't care about any of these annoying, self-absorbed pests). It ends on a cliffhanger: Declan and Lasser, who is a chauvinistic demon prince who inexplicably becomes friends with Callie and Declan despite sexually harassing Callie at every turn and to whom the word boundaries is set a universe away from his dictionary, these two boys rush to save Callie from the advances of one of Lasser's eighty six brothers, as it is a foregone conclusion that he would also want to sexually harass and even assault her because she's a super special "muse".
Wow. I did not expect anything published in 2024 to be so blatantly antifeminist.
And it was created by a woman, and a mother!
'Nothing Special' may try to pretend that Callie is a hero and her own person, not letting anyone control her, dictate her life, or tell her what to do and influence her, but I've read the comic, and I can tell you that none of these informed attributes are true. She is reactionary, is pushed and pulled by the weak, limp, insubstantial plot, and she constantly needs help from the males in her life and on her quest. The only agency and drive she shows is when she sets out to find her missing father, but that's all the reader gets in making them care about her.
I want the Callie from the very beginning of the comic, where she's a little girl and running around all excited and playful and curious and funny and creative, before her overprotective and secretive father puts a stop to all that. Likely unintentional on the comic's part, he is the one who crushes Callie's spirit and sense of adventure, up to her late teens, before he disappears and sets the quest in motion. His highly questionable parenting is also treated lightly and played for laughs, for very little he appears.
Callie's fellow supernatural friend in high school (in apparently our own normie world, containing modern pop culture... the book doesn't worldbuild well or explain how different realms work at all) and love interest, Declan, who is keeping secrets from her as well, is kind of sweet, in a typical nerdy fashion, and is certainly the best option for Callie in the stupid love quadrangle. But that's not saying much, as he is a Nice GuyTM, obsessed with Callie physically (and has been for over ten years) and wanting her as his prize, as more than friendship. This is at its most clear when Lasser complains to him that Callie kept asking to be taken back to him when Lasser kidnapped her (yes, this happens, complete with a forced bridal gown, and still they become companions), like, why? when "wimpy" Nice GuyTM Declan is no one special, not like the demon prince with a vast inferiority complex and insecurities. Declan smiles at this. She chose him over her kidnapper, so obviously she must feel the same way towards him as he does her. This must make her his prize. Priorities! While this is happening, while the two boys are talking about her, Callie is sleeping right in front of them. Nothing creepy there! Nothing reminding me of 'Twilight' about that!
I can't stress enough how creepy and invasive Lasser is towards Callie. Among the things I already mentioned about him - that he's her stalker, kidnapper, and sexual harasser - he constantly refers to her parents as his future in-laws, despite being told repeatedly not to. He is obsessed with her. He treats her like an object; to him, she is not a person with her own wants, thoughts and feelings. He consistently, persistently ignores her rejections to his advances, her protests and spurnings. He never accepts no as an answer. At one point he affirms they sleep together to "conserve body heat", before he is slapped away by Declan, the jealous Nice GuyTM, not her.
This isn't funny. It's sick. I feel sick just typing it out. None of this should be treated as comedic relief. In something made in the early 2020s.
To the bitter end Lasser insists that Callie is his and his alone; his muse and future bride, his inspiration, his woman-behind-every-great-man (another actual quote from the comic) in his own "heroic story". Callie is far too lenient and tolerant to him, and I have no effing clue why. Eff off, Lasser. The MeToo movement would like to have a word with you.
Callie is seventeen-years-old, too, and while the comic gives no info on how old Lasser is supposed to be, the fact that he is a supernatural, 100% nonhuman creature, a demon or something similar, means he could be any age, including over hundreds of years old, or a thousand. Even if he is considered to be young, a "boy", in his species' years, how old he is in comparison to human years needs to be addressed. Either way, and even disregarding this problem in the myriad sea of problematic crap that is Lasser's treatment of Callie, he seriously could not be any more of a creep.
Another thing I don't like about 'Nothing Special' is the use of mild-to-moderate swear words throughout, and the F-word is almost said a few times towards the end. It's not funny or clever, not in the slightest. This is marketed as a children's/middle grade comic, at least by Goodreads. It is not for young children, stop it.
'Nothing Special' isn't nearly as funny as it clearly thinks it is, either. The humour is as obnoxious as most of the "characters".
AND WTF: Apparently a fight with a unicorn happened on Callie and Declan's quest (I refuse to acknowledge Lasser), and it's off-page! All the reader is given is the aftermath and the characters talking about it, no transitions indicated. Well, screw you too, comic. I mean, is this supposed to be funny? Show me the unicorn! Show me the unicorn fight! What is this?! I thought this is an epic fantasy story - why all the shortcuts and low effort put in! Show me something more than tiny vegetable spirits, sexual assaulter demons, and genocidal, sociopathic tree mums! The blink-and-you-miss-it montage containing one-panel spirit bucks and chimeras hardly count.
Oh, and how did Callie's dad go missing in the first place? Who took him? Was he taken, as is implied when Callie first discovers him missing from their home? But then the tree mum (whose name is Lyla, but whatever, literally who cares), upon finally showing up near the end, says he was in her territory, so she took him in and absorbed him into her mossy roots (why she didn't just kill him right away when that was her plan all along, I don't know). How did the tree mum get a hold of him? Wait, what was he doing around her territory to begin with? He had stayed well away from her for years to protect Callie, so... what? How did the human and the tree meet and become close enough to produce a child? And without the mum killing the extremely-poor-judge-of-character dad, as she's wont to do? I don't understand. Character motivation, consistent character motivations, reasons to care about character motivations - I need these in my stories! Everything is so contrived, and messy and poorly planned out.
There's overexplaining things in fantasy stories, and then there's not really explaining anything when it is needed in fantasy stories, and 'Nothing Special' does the latter in spades.
So, there you go: my middling, random, confused review of the middling, random, confused 'Nothing Special'. It is unfortunately my 'The Last Witch: Fear & Fire' of 2024, in that I don't get how an "all-ages" (justification needed) epic fantasy comic this muddled and carelessly thought-out could be so well received and well liked. And it, along with 'Hooky', is another published epic fantasy webtoon comic that I hate and everybody else seems to like.
The few positives I can give 'Nothing Special' are the swift, clean, polished cartoony artwork (though I don't get why everyone looks like they are always blushing), and the relationship between Callie and Declan, which is nice and sweet sometimes, if you can overlook the Nice GuyTM-ness dynamic of it. I long for a guy to call me "enthralling" someday...
Regardless, I can't condone heteronormative, rape culture-fuelled, antifeminist works of fiction like this in 2024. We've done better by now; for, like, over ten years.
No doubt the author worked very hard on creating 'Nothing Special'. Sadly, despite it being a fantasy with a female lead, it is definitely not for me.
Final Score: 2/5
I want the Callie from the very beginning of the comic, where she's a little girl and running around all excited and playful and curious and funny and creative, before her overprotective and secretive father puts a stop to all that. Likely unintentional on the comic's part, he is the one who crushes Callie's spirit and sense of adventure, up to her late teens, before he disappears and sets the quest in motion. His highly questionable parenting is also treated lightly and played for laughs, for very little he appears.
Callie's fellow supernatural friend in high school (in apparently our own normie world, containing modern pop culture... the book doesn't worldbuild well or explain how different realms work at all) and love interest, Declan, who is keeping secrets from her as well, is kind of sweet, in a typical nerdy fashion, and is certainly the best option for Callie in the stupid love quadrangle. But that's not saying much, as he is a Nice GuyTM, obsessed with Callie physically (and has been for over ten years) and wanting her as his prize, as more than friendship. This is at its most clear when Lasser complains to him that Callie kept asking to be taken back to him when Lasser kidnapped her (yes, this happens, complete with a forced bridal gown, and still they become companions), like, why? when "wimpy" Nice GuyTM Declan is no one special, not like the demon prince with a vast inferiority complex and insecurities. Declan smiles at this. She chose him over her kidnapper, so obviously she must feel the same way towards him as he does her. This must make her his prize. Priorities! While this is happening, while the two boys are talking about her, Callie is sleeping right in front of them. Nothing creepy there! Nothing reminding me of 'Twilight' about that!
I can't stress enough how creepy and invasive Lasser is towards Callie. Among the things I already mentioned about him - that he's her stalker, kidnapper, and sexual harasser - he constantly refers to her parents as his future in-laws, despite being told repeatedly not to. He is obsessed with her. He treats her like an object; to him, she is not a person with her own wants, thoughts and feelings. He consistently, persistently ignores her rejections to his advances, her protests and spurnings. He never accepts no as an answer. At one point he affirms they sleep together to "conserve body heat", before he is slapped away by Declan, the jealous Nice GuyTM, not her.
This isn't funny. It's sick. I feel sick just typing it out. None of this should be treated as comedic relief. In something made in the early 2020s.
To the bitter end Lasser insists that Callie is his and his alone; his muse and future bride, his inspiration, his woman-behind-every-great-man (another actual quote from the comic) in his own "heroic story". Callie is far too lenient and tolerant to him, and I have no effing clue why. Eff off, Lasser. The MeToo movement would like to have a word with you.
Callie is seventeen-years-old, too, and while the comic gives no info on how old Lasser is supposed to be, the fact that he is a supernatural, 100% nonhuman creature, a demon or something similar, means he could be any age, including over hundreds of years old, or a thousand. Even if he is considered to be young, a "boy", in his species' years, how old he is in comparison to human years needs to be addressed. Either way, and even disregarding this problem in the myriad sea of problematic crap that is Lasser's treatment of Callie, he seriously could not be any more of a creep.
Another thing I don't like about 'Nothing Special' is the use of mild-to-moderate swear words throughout, and the F-word is almost said a few times towards the end. It's not funny or clever, not in the slightest. This is marketed as a children's/middle grade comic, at least by Goodreads. It is not for young children, stop it.
'Nothing Special' isn't nearly as funny as it clearly thinks it is, either. The humour is as obnoxious as most of the "characters".
AND WTF: Apparently a fight with a unicorn happened on Callie and Declan's quest (I refuse to acknowledge Lasser), and it's off-page! All the reader is given is the aftermath and the characters talking about it, no transitions indicated. Well, screw you too, comic. I mean, is this supposed to be funny? Show me the unicorn! Show me the unicorn fight! What is this?! I thought this is an epic fantasy story - why all the shortcuts and low effort put in! Show me something more than tiny vegetable spirits, sexual assaulter demons, and genocidal, sociopathic tree mums! The blink-and-you-miss-it montage containing one-panel spirit bucks and chimeras hardly count.
Oh, and how did Callie's dad go missing in the first place? Who took him? Was he taken, as is implied when Callie first discovers him missing from their home? But then the tree mum (whose name is Lyla, but whatever, literally who cares), upon finally showing up near the end, says he was in her territory, so she took him in and absorbed him into her mossy roots (why she didn't just kill him right away when that was her plan all along, I don't know). How did the tree mum get a hold of him? Wait, what was he doing around her territory to begin with? He had stayed well away from her for years to protect Callie, so... what? How did the human and the tree meet and become close enough to produce a child? And without the mum killing the extremely-poor-judge-of-character dad, as she's wont to do? I don't understand. Character motivation, consistent character motivations, reasons to care about character motivations - I need these in my stories! Everything is so contrived, and messy and poorly planned out.
There's overexplaining things in fantasy stories, and then there's not really explaining anything when it is needed in fantasy stories, and 'Nothing Special' does the latter in spades.
So, there you go: my middling, random, confused review of the middling, random, confused 'Nothing Special'. It is unfortunately my 'The Last Witch: Fear & Fire' of 2024, in that I don't get how an "all-ages" (justification needed) epic fantasy comic this muddled and carelessly thought-out could be so well received and well liked. And it, along with 'Hooky', is another published epic fantasy webtoon comic that I hate and everybody else seems to like.
The few positives I can give 'Nothing Special' are the swift, clean, polished cartoony artwork (though I don't get why everyone looks like they are always blushing), and the relationship between Callie and Declan, which is nice and sweet sometimes, if you can overlook the Nice GuyTM-ness dynamic of it. I long for a guy to call me "enthralling" someday...
Regardless, I can't condone heteronormative, rape culture-fuelled, antifeminist works of fiction like this in 2024. We've done better by now; for, like, over ten years.
No doubt the author worked very hard on creating 'Nothing Special'. Sadly, despite it being a fantasy with a female lead, it is definitely not for me.
Final Score: 2/5
EDIT: A couple more criticisms: At the beginning of the story, when Declan explains to Callie that his grandmother took him to see a therapist when he started seeing vegetable ghosts, the word therapist is emphasised, in bold text. Why? Again this is a 2024 publication, there should absolutely be no shock, stigma and shame in seeking help for mental and emotional health problems. It's thrown in there, and oh what a surprise it's never mentioned again. And in another explanation that Declan gives Callie much later on, about his mysterious fairy wings, he says he must have gotten them from his mother's side of the family. There is no reason given whatsoever why he assumes it's his mother and not his father (or both) that he got his supernatural traits from; both his parents died before he could remember them. It's beyond vague and lazy. It's not good writing, is what I'm saying.
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